Thanks for your reply. It was very helpful. My question is which version of the Mad dogs shyould I go for? They range from 249 to 299. Is the extra fifty bucks worth it? Comfort is less important to me than sound. Can the pads really make such a big difference in bass?

A little late to the conversation, but since I just ordered the $299 Mad Dog's Thursday evening (should be here Monday), I figured it would be alright for me to respond to the questions above.

1) Comfort... To me, this is a biggie. When I sit down to use my cans, I listen for literally hours on end, so comfort plays a huge roll for me. I used to have a pair of Grado sr325is', both with the stock pads and 1000 pads. The stock ones, I could only use them for about 30 minutes to an hour at most. The 1000 pads were better, but they felt strange and I could only handle them for about 2 hours. Then again, those were pretty rough sounding cans, so no matter what pads I used, their sound was just too fatiguing after a while. And this was with two different tube amps to boot!

2) Ear Pads... With my 20+ year old MDR-7506's, the stock pads were shot after a while, flaking apart and everything, making a mess everywhere. About 5 years ago, I replaced them with the Byer DT250 velour pads. Not only did they improve the comfort and reduce the heat/moisture build-up over long periods of use, they also improved bass response and focus, as well as tame some of that hotter treble the 7506's are known for. Vocals also seemed to warm up a little as well. If Sony was smart, they should be selling the V6's with velour pads, or at least give the customer the option. I can't see how any headphone could be faulted with using velour pads. All of the big name "audiophile" cans come stock with them. Go figure.

On that note, I'm very excited about getting my Mad Dog's. They are going to be the first "nice" cans I'll have since my K701's years ago when they were first released. I even ordered a new amp to go along with them, the Fiio E11. Heck, I'll even dig out my old 708B tube amp to use as well.